Life Isn't All About the Serious Stuff

Blue columbine, the Colorado state flower

A couple weeks ago, I talked about my attempt to grow blue columbine flowers from seed. Last year I succeeded in growing plants, but they didn't flower.

This is the year! The plants survived winter, and this spring, they blossomed.

I attempt to grow vegetables to supplement our groceries - a tricky project in our climate. Just doing container gardening, I grew enough jalapeno peppers one year to provide for two or three years. I don't buy green beans - I grow them, freezing the excess to use during the winter. By late summer, I have plenty of tomatoes and cucumbers. Enough to make pickle relish and frozen tomato sauce.

But I also like flowers. My grandma and grandpa had amazing flower beds. In 2020, when my husband began working from home, he took an interest in marigolds and petunias. That's when our flower gardening kicked into high gear.

Our front yard was a bit of a wasteland when we moved into this house a couple decades ago. Now the gravel pit is a showcase of Shasta daisies, irises, day lilies, dianthus, and more. ​Our former neighbor gave me two peony plants when she moved out of state. The peonies look amazing this year.

What do flowers have to do with writing? 

Trying to earn your living from your writing is like gardening to feed yourself in Colorado. Yes, you may have bumper crops of various vegetables some years. But I never made enough from writing fiction to quit the day job.

We grow flowers for the visual and olfactory pleasure, with no expectation of a reward in the form of saving on the grocery bill. For me, writing fiction has been about finding the balance between writing for the pure enjoyment of creation, and seeking the rewards of financial gain and reader recognition. 

If it's all about the money, we lose the joy.

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